How We Deliver Legal Services in Kenya amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Last updated on May 11th, 2024

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya stands at 134,058 that have caused 2,153 deaths. And the global deaths attributed to the virus are 2,814,899 against 128,791500 confirmed virus infections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a watershed event that will be discussed, researched, analyzed and eventually placed in a broader historical perspective. Just like other landmark historical events this is no different from being measured in pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 nomenclature—that has battered almost every economy, business, and market in the world, including the legal industry. Data available from the John Hopkins University should suffice. As on April 1, 2021, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya stands at 134,058 that have caused 2,153 deaths. And the global deaths attributed to the virus are 2,814,899 against 128,791500 confirmed virus infections.

During this unprecedented time of remote-working, we have acknowledged the fact that lawyers—and clients—should be especially sensitive to maintaining essential protections from contracting the deadly malady. Our legal and tech team at Kubwa & Co Advocates is on the front line by setting and implementing work-ready environment for seamless legal service delivery in strict compliance with the Kenyan Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines as the country grapples with mass vaccine inoculation following the first shipment of just over 1 million Covax-funded AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in early March 2021. According to a recent press briefing by the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mr. Mutahi Kagwe, the government is projected to inoculate an estimated 16 million of its roughly 53 million people by June next year.

The old adage is true: necessity is the mother of invention. The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing changes in the way the world (including the world of business) works to such a degree that the effects are sure to extend far beyond the current situation. We are no exception as some of our clients have found it hard in accepting the new norm of avoiding the office, representing a struggle for many including partners who value face-time in the office as part of our firm’s culture.

We have quickly, creatively devised and adopted modus operandi that uses the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as a critical lens through which to carry on with practice in innovatively but efficiently touching the many practice areas of law that have been impacted by the pandemic. We strive to remain true to our Service Level Agreement (SLA) and deliver what we promise our clients.

Our firm has not closed down its physical office chambers but has rather adopted platooning strategy. This basically means we have a team of rotating lawyers in and out of our physical offices while another team is working remotely individually but in constant coordination with each team member in matters requiring special sessions of brainstorming. It’s basically working in shifts to avert scenarios where lawyers and clients cram together in chambers.

We have client collaboration platforms such as HighQ; and presentation tools like: Webex; Signal; GoToMeeting; Microsoft Teams; Zoom; and Skype

Our clients no longer worry about overhead expenditures associated with logistics that facilitate their face-time physical presentation to our chambers. In fact, we have incorporated Applications like Citrix and VMware virtual environments; virtual private networks (VPNs); client collaboration platforms such as HighQ; and presentation tools like: Webex; Signal; GoToMeeting; Microsoft Teams; Zoom; and Skype in order to make our practice simple, inviting, and efficient to work from any remote location with a decent network connection. These technological platforms offer flexible, scalable collaboration, and presentation amongst lawyers and clients.

Our practice is designed for “anywhere access” and is well-equipped to handle the increased traffic as legal professionals conduct internal and external meetings, litigation teams work in concert to craft their arguments and write and submit briefs, and firm managers access and analyze their teams’ workflow. Whether it’s the COVID-19 pandemic or some other external pressure forcing the legal industry’s hand, we have resolves to let go of static, out-moded notions of work and instead fully embraced the efficiencies of remote technologies.

In hindsight, we have always been prepared and we are conversant of the power of leveraging digital lawyering through this age of platforms and applications. And so has influenced drastically our decision to practice remotely for convenience purposes. With a Cloud Engineer onboard, our vast experience has always allowed us to set up the cloud environment as per the demand. Essentially, cloud resources are pooled, apps deployed and the target metrics are met with unrivaled expediency.

This News alert is provided for general information purposes only; the opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Kubwa & Co Advocates. Be sure to seek specific legal advice on the subject matter. If you have any query regarding the same, please do not hesitate to contact kubwa@kubwaadvocates.com; katitia@kubwaadvocates.com or info@kubwaadvocates.com